Continuing the conviction in the agritech sector, India’s leading venture debt firm, Stride Ventures, today announced a debt round of INR 50 Crore in WayCool, India’s leading food and agri-tech platform. WayCool solves various pain points throughout the food logistics supply chain while improving farmers’ income, reducing food waste, and increasing consumer access to high-quality produce.

WayCool is addressing some of the most pressing supply chain challenges in India’s agricultural sector. The Indian agriculture industry worth $340B, is still largely unorganised and fragmented. With an extensive network of farmers and customers, and a well-built tech suite, WayCool is efficiently handling and managing 1500 tonnes of food every day. The company is also bringing about a fundamental transformation in the food value chain by turning it from a supply-led to a demand-led supply chain, thus reducing food waste and inefficiencies. Backed by global impact investors, the company had recently raised USD 40 mn.

Chinna Pardhasardhi, Chief Finance Officer, WayCool, said, “Since the beginning, we at WayCool have been taking several tech-driven initiatives to innovate and bolster the Indian food economy. We welcome Stride Ventures to the Waycool family joining us in our journey to build one of largest Food and Agri tech platforms”.

Apoorva Sharma, Partner at Stride Ventures, said, “WayCool aims to build the world’s largest food development and distribution services company and positively impact the lives of 150,000 farmers. The company is supported by best in class investors and a remarkable team who are building the future of the Indian food economy. We are excited to be part of their journey and we strongly believe they will continue to grow and disrupt the agriculture industry in India.”

With this round, Stride Ventures continues to expand its portfolio into new-age start-ups across sectors creating innovative debt structures, which cater to the needs of the founders. It plays a strategic role in the long-term journey of its portfolio companies through deep penetration in the banking and venture ecosystem.